A Speck of Dust
by Red Sky Rain
Summary: Naruto is an orphan from a place far from away from Konoha. Life as an orphan is harsh for Naruto. He hates the shinobi world, but has no choice but to join it.
1. Chapter 1

Hi, in this story Naruto is not Minato's son. He's also not the host of the nine tails. In fact, Minato and Kushina are alive. Naruto is just an orphan that's mediocre at what he does, gets little attention from his classmates, and is shunned by society because he has to steal to survive. He's known as a thief in Konoha.

 _Chaper 1 – The boy no one cared about_

My name is Uzurani Naruto, I'm twelve years old, and a student at Konoha Ninja Academy. I've been a student there from the age of six. It's been quite some hard years for me, and to be honest, sometimes I wish I didn't have to attend the academy. But I sort of have no choice you see.

I'm poor, and being at the academy as one of their charity cases gives me the opportunity to free meals during the day. This is actually the only reason I chose to attend the academy in the first place. I was so hungry one day that I was desperate enough to enrol.

You may wonder what's so bad about the academy. Many people dream of attending the academy, to become a shinobi, the occupation that so many dream of, and many more envy. You hear great things about elite shinobi like Kakashi of the Sharingan, Jiraiya of the Sannin, and of course the Hokage, Minato Namikaze, the Yellow Flash.

The answer to that question is because I hate the shinobi world. There's a reason I'm poor.

Years ago, when I was only one years old, my family was killed by shinobi. We were living far away from Konoha at the time, inside a cabin deep in the mountains of the Fire Country, where the forests blossemed like summer trouth.

There was a fued between Konoha and the Iwa, and as it happened, our cabin was just in between. I don't remember much of that night, except my mother screaming, and my father's dead eyes.

The next morning I was found by Konoha shinobi, who had brought me to Konoha, and afterward into their only orphanage. I have very bad memories of that time.

In the academy I'm known as the deadbeat, because I'm bad at everything a shinobi should be good at, or at least should be striving for in the case of academy students.

I dont mind being thought of as the deadlast, or the loser. What do they know of my hardships anyway? They all have fancy homes and families to go to after the bell rings. Some hail from prestigious clans, like the Uchiha bastard. Not only is he a skilled student, the best in the class in fact, he's also probably loaded with money. There's also Hinata, from the Hyuuga clan, and dog boy from the Inuzuka clan. They're all a pain in the void that is known as my existence.

The reason I'm bad in the academy isn't because I lack talent, I don't even know if I have any talent in the art of the ninja, I just don't try. I hate the craft of these mindless killers, so why should I excell at their game? I was getting free food, and the academy offered me the safety of the streets during the day.

Too bad this little bubble of fantasy was about to pop. Next week is the last time I can take the genin exam. Should I fail, they will kick me out, and by by go the free meals, and hello to the rotten scum of the slums of the village hidden in the leaves.

There was some hope though. As the years past in their harsh winters and suffocating summers, I got much better at stealing. I was so good that I no longer had to worry about my ribs sticking almost out of my skin. My belly was full on most days. The only reason I stick with the academy is because it offers me safety from some of the underground gangs in the village.

Soon that protection would end. I have to think of a way to survive.

"Naruto, are you not paying attention again?" Asked the voice of Iruka Umino. I looked up, and yawed. "Why can't you at least pretend to be interested in what I teach?"

"Because he's too stupid," the dog boy yowled. The rest of the class laughed. Some of the more quiet ones didn't say anything, but they never did anyways.

"At least I don't sleep in dog shit, dog boy," I retorted back. I heard some sniggers coming from the back of the class.

"Calm down, the both of you!" Umino said. He looked down one final time at me, shook his head, and went back to the front of the class.

I stared at the clock above the green board. It was still 4 hours until the bell would ring and I would head back into the desolate streets of Konoha.

/

I have a bit of a busy life, so I'm not sure when I can update this. I'll try to update when I can/have the energy for it.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – The boy with a new ambition

The school bell rang after 4 dreadful hours of boring lectures about ninja history and techniques on how to throw kunai and shuriken. I followed the masses out of the door and into the hall of the academy. There were some lower classmen hanging about the hall, talking with smiles on their faces about the lectures and training of today. I found their joy somewhat dejecting for my personal mood.

As I passed the large courtyard of the academy, I noticed, as usual, parents picking up the younger classmen. In the past it would have made me a little sad, knowing that my parents would never return to the mortal world. Now it only made me bitter.

The streets of Konoha some miles away from Konoha turned from the clean and expensive laid stone into crooked paths, with thieves roaming in every corner, and drug dealers and their clients getting hooked up along the damp alleys. Such was the life in the less fortunate places in a ninja village.

My home was just at the end of Fire Breather Street, one of the more notorious parts of the slums of Konoha. Murders were not uncommon here, nor were screams at night and the usual dog fights. You had to either develop thick skin, or have it, when you live at the Fire Breather Street. I grew up faster than my peers here, I had to.

time to time children would disappear. Sold as slaves to whatever monster would have them. And who would care for them? The Konoha Shinobi? I laughed at the prospect. They were too busy with paid missions to bother with orphans who were nobodies. Who would report their disappearance when they had no one?

There was one time when a man had dragged me into a desolate alley. He was a skinny man, looking sickly, and his eyes drooping down. He told me he would sell me into slavery, and that if I didn't want to get cut with the knife he was holding, I would do as he said.

I was petrified, but more petrified of the idea of having to be sold to strangers. And so I tackled the man, hard. When he fell on the floor and lost his weapon, I picked up the knife and did not hesitate to lung at his throat. The blood would not stop pouring out of his neck. He made gurgling sounds before dying.

I felt a little bit weird after that, but better him than me. And with this kill he would not take more victims.

"Hey Naruto," said a familiar voice. I turned my head and saw someone I knew very well. It was Mai. Just Mai, because she was born here on the _breather_ street, and had no family. She had long dark hair tied down behind her head. Her eyes were a light blue. She wore a grey pants and a black shirt. Not unlike my grim colors, only reversed.

"Mai," I said, and then smiled. At the same time my smile fell. How could I face my only friend, knowing that she didn't enjoy the protection of the academy, when I did? I felt guilty every time. Luckily Mai could take care of herself. One day she found a long dagger, most likely lost by an uncaring genin, and ever since, she trained with it every day. No one dared bother her since then.

"So how's life at the fancy academy?" She asked as we walked alongside the cramped houses of our neighborhood. We past a man that smelled of booze, and made a rude comment about Mai's body. She kicked the man in the face. He was too drunk to do anything back.

"I don't know, you tell me." We laughed. "I barely pass the subjects at school, actually, I've failed in all subjects. I don't study at all." Mai looked at me with a frown when I explained to her my life at the academy.

"I'm sure there's something you're good at that place, I mean, you're a great pickpocket, and don't shinobi have to be good at hiding and stuff?" We crossed a street and turned to the right where our homes were at the very end.

"Not really."

"But Naruto," she said as we stopped in front of our houses, "why don't you at least try? Shinobi earn a decent living, and you won't have to steal anymore. If I were in your position, I would do my darnest to be the very best." She looked down and then up again, "frankly, it makes me angry Naru, don't you know what I'd do to be in your position?" I was surprised, and too flabbergasted to respond.

"I know that you've told me about the ninja who killed your parents and made you an orphan, but not all shinobi are bad! I didn't want to tell you, but last year I was almost raped, but a ninja with silver hair and a mask saved me! You can be a shinobi just like him. And then maybe we could get out of this place, because wherever you're going I'm going too!" She turned around and went inside her home.

I was standing then for at least ten minutes before I snapped out of it. A ninja saved a gutter rat? Who'd know something like that was possible? Should I do more my best at the academy? But what about mom, and dad who was made to watch what they did to her. My jaw was pressed together at the mere thought. But then Mai's story made me jaw relax slightly.

Not all ninja were bad, huh? What if I could become like the ninja who saved Mai, and stop the bad ones from hurting innocent people?

That night I went to bed, and dreamt of a world where the innocent weren't hurt, and the brave who stood up to injustice were hailed as hero's.


End file.
